Marvelous Middle Grade Monday Giveaway-Randi Rhodes Ninja Detective by Octavia Spencer

Good Tuesday Morning all. This is a late Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post. Was away for a couple of weeks and off the internet for almost the same amount of time. Unplanned, but fun times in the mountains, camping, then babysitting the nieces, then camping, then babysitting and so on and so on.

Before MMGM on a Tuesday, though, I have to announce the winner of Tara Dairman's ALL FOUR STARS. That winner is...

Michael G-G!

Now, here's that late MMGM post:

Deer Creek is a small town whose only hope for survival is the success of their Founder's Day Festival. But the festival's main attraction, a time capsule that many people believe hold the town's treasure, has gone missing.

Randi Rhodes and her best friend, D.C., are Bruce Lee-inspired ninjas and local detectives determined to solve the case. Even if it means investigating in a haunted cabin and facing mean old Angus McCarthy, prime suspect.They have three days to find the treasure; the future of their whole town is at stake! Will these kids be able to save the day. (Goodreads)


Great book, characters, setting, plot. I really think is this one kids will like and relate too and one that boys and girls will read and enjoy. It may have taken, for me, a little too long to introduce all of the kids we see on the cover, but that didn't take away from overall story. And the setting? So well done. Rich and fun and I want to go there. And I want to meet the cast of characters who populate the town. Definitely one for mystery lovers.

If you'd like to win a copy of this book all you need to do leave a comment by midnight (MST) Sunday August 10. I'd also love to hear some of your favourite mysteries, recents or from when you were a kid. When I was a kid (around ten) it was all about Trixie Belden, Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie.

MMGM Interview & Giveaway-All Four Stars by Tara Dairman

Some time ago I read and loved All Four Stars by Tara Dairman. I was especially impressed with the secondary characters who surrounded Tara's fabulous main character, aspiring restaurant critic Gladys Gatsby. They added a depth and richness to the story that made it one of my favourite reads this year. In other words...they were the spice! Here is a little bit more about the book from Goodreads:

Meet Gladys Gatsby: New York’s toughest restaurant critic. (Just don’t tell anyone that she’s in sixth grade.)

 
Gladys Gatsby has been cooking gourmet dishes since the age of seven, only her fast-food-loving parents have no idea! Now she’s eleven, and after a crème brûlée accident (just a small fire), Gladys is cut off from the kitchen (and her allowance). She’s devastated but soon finds just the right opportunity to pay her parents back when she’s mistakenly contacted to write a restaurant review for one of the largest newspapers in the world.
 
But in order to meet her deadline and keep her dream job, Gladys must cook her way into the heart of her sixth-grade archenemy and sneak into New York City—all while keeping her identity a secret! Easy as pie, right?

And here is the interview (stay tuned at the end for information on how to enter the giveaway):

What sparked the idea for you book? It is so unique, so timely...so fun!Thanks, Deb! And it's funny that you call the book timely, since I started writing it way back in 2005. :) I was working as an editor at a small magazine, and published several freelancers whom I never met in person or even spoke to on the phone—we just communicated by e-mail. So it occurred to me that, in this day and age, a kid who was a really good writer just might be able to hoodwink an editor into publishing her. And since I was interested in food and cooking, I decided to make this kid a restaurant critic!

What or who inspired with your secondary characters and how did you develop them? They were so, so well done, right down to the adults. Was there one in particular that was the most fun to write? One that was the most difficult to get a handle on?

I'm so glad you liked the supporting cast! I had SO much fun writing the kids. None of them were based on anyone from real life, though they all have characteristics borrowed from me, I guess. Like Parm, I was a very picky eater as a kid; like Sandy, I had rabbits named Edward and Dennis Hopper; and like Charissa, I can get pretty grumpy when I'm hungry and I love musicals (though Glossy Girl: The Musical would have tested my patience).

As for the adults, I struggled more with some of them—particularly Gladys's parents. Honestly, I understand now why orphan stories are so common in middle grade, because writing believable parents who still let their kids get into and out of all sorts of trouble is really challenging! I hope that I got the balance of cluelessness and caring right in the end for Mr. and Mrs. Gatsby. Aunt Lydia, on the other hand, was very easy to write, since I based her wholesale on my own scarf-wearing, adventurous, food-loving Aunt Judy. She's the only character in the book who pretty much comes straight from real life.

I read your guest post on Literary Rambles and am so very glad you took the manuscript for All Four Stars around the world with you! Can you share one or two of your more exotic writing locations and one or two of your more exotic eats?

Sure! I worked on ALL FOUR STARS in a lot of cool places: an acai bar in Belem, Brazil; a mate-serving tea shop in Buenos Aires, Argentina; coffee shops (where I sipped hot chocolate) in the capitals of Cameroon and Gabon; and, most significantly, at the Kilimanjaro Coffee Lounge in Moshi, Tanzania, where I drank chai and finished the first draft while my husband was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

As for exotic eats, I had a lot of great desserts--such as the Indian gajar ka halwa (carrot pudding) and the Malaysian

Malaysian Pancakes

apam balik (peanut pancake) that appear in ALL FOUR STARS--and some tasty variations on the hot dog (in Chile, Thailand, and Iceland) that will make cameos in the sequel next year!

Saw on your site that there is a second helping of Gladys on the way! I know there is no title as of yet. Any hints on what to expect?The sequel will take place during the summer after sixth grade, and will see Gladys facing challenges from a new kid-writer nemesis, a jealous adult restaurant critic, and possibly the most difficult assignment in the history of restaurant reviewing. She has her work cut out for her!

Finally--is there anything you really disliked eating as a child but now love? I have heard our tastebuds change over the years.

Considering that I hardly ate anything as a kid (like Parm, I pretty much lived on cereal and plain pasta), there's plenty! Just to name a few foods: lobster, tomato sauce, goat cheese, peaches, and lentils. Wow, I really was picky.

Thanks for doing this!

Thanks so much for having me, Deb!

Find Tara online:

Website: www.taradairman.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaraDairman

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaraDairmanAuthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13598351-all-four-stars

Where to buy links:
 

Indiebound 

Penguin 

Barnes and Noble 

Amazon

Book Depository 

Tara Dairman is a novelist, playwright, and survivor of the world’s longest honeymoon (2 years, 74 countries!) Her first middle-grade novel, All Four Stars, was published on July 10, 2014 by Putnam/Penguin. Tara grew up in New York and earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College; she currently lives in Colorado, where she teaches writing to students aged 6-13.

I would love for one of you to have win a copy of All Four Stars. All you need to do is comment and if you let us know what your favourite food is...OR...what is the most exotic (to you) dish you have ever eaten! Giveaway open until next Sunday at midnight MST.

The Writing Process-Blog Hop

A couple of weeks ago I was tagged by Jennifer Rumberger for the writing process blog hop. I've been following Jennifer's blog for some time now and got to know her even better when we were on the Cybils Panel for Middle Grade Fiction. To find out more about Jennifer you can head over to her website.

Edited to add that I forgot to add that I will be away for a couple of weeks (holidaying in B.C. with my daughter and family!). Will be checking in and reading blogs and commenting but no new posts until July 21, 2014 when I will be back with a MMGM featuring ALL FOUR STARS author Tara Dairman. Doing an interview and giveaway!

Now, on to the blog hop questions. Thanks to Jennifer for inviting me to join the fun!

What are you currently working on? This summer I am working on a new middle grade novel called MY DAD, THE FROG PRINCE. I keep leaving it and coming back to it. Had an epiphany on POV and am going to experiment with that. Also considering looking back at another book of mine called THE TO DON'T LIST. Wondering on taking a secondary character and giving him a voice. We'll see on that. Plus, there are a couple of picture books that are poking at me so I will see where they go. I have the summer off so have lots of time between visits with family and camping to get writing, writing, writing.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?  With my middle grade, I am experimenting with multiple points of view--that is something does occur in middle grade but not something you see a whole lot of.

Why do I write what I write? I am convinced there is a ten year old alive and well inside of me. Very often went a story comes to me it is middle grade and the MC is ten! This may also have a lot to do with reading middle grade for my work and as part of Middle Grade Mondays. When it comes to picture books, that dates back to my days working the reference desk in Calgary Public Library's children's department downtown. I read a lot of picture books for storytimes, for school visits, for summer reading programs. Fell in love with the genre.

How does my individual writing process work?

I am between a plotter and a pantser. And once I have the story in in place I have been known to write scenes as they come to me. Lately I have been writing in a notebook everyday, just exploring and developing ideas AND...I have been writing outside of the lines trying to really loosen myself up. Here is a part of my writer's process in pictures.

Early morning writer, sometimes around five...so...

Drink some coffee!

Then...

Scribble in notebook to get the creativity flowing.

Then open book's file (Scrivener)

 Stare at computer screen. Visit Youtube, Twitter, Google Hangouts....um, research, connecting with other writers, fellow creatives. You know the drill.

Drink more coffee.

Stare at screen, then....BINGO...the typing begins!

 Use resources of awesome like Writers Helping Writers thesaurus's . These are always with me. I even just sit and read through them to get ideas for new characters.

That's all from me! Next on the blog hop is.  She is a long time friend, haiku poet and writer who lives in New Brunswick, Canada.  You can find out more about her on her blog Ebb and Flow. Her post will be going up on July 7.

MMGM Interview and Giveaway: The 14 Fibs of Gregory K by Greg Pincus

Greg Pincus recently shared on his blog that his book, The Fourteen Fibs of Gregory K, was included in Bank Street's Best Children's Books of the Year, 2014. I say congratulations and well deserved. Certainly one of my favourite reads.

From Goodreads:

Failing math but great at writing, Gregory finds the poetry (and humor) in what's hard.

Gregory K is the middle child in a family of mathematical geniuses. But if he claimed to love math? Well, he'd be fibbing. What he really wants most is to go to Author Camp. But to get his parents' permission he's going to have to pass his math class, which has a probability of 0. THAT much he can understand! To make matters worse, he's been playing fast and loose with the truth: "I LOVE math" he tells his parents. "I've entered a citywide math contest!" he tells his teacher. "We're going to author camp!" he tells his best friend, Kelly. And now, somehow, he's going to have to make good on his promises.

Hilariously it's the "Fibonacci Sequence" -- a famous mathematical formula! -- that comes to the rescue, inspiring Gregory to create a whole new form of poem: the Fib! Maybe Fibs will save the day, and help Gregory find his way back to the truth.

For every kid who equates math with torture but wants his own way to shine, here's a novel that is way more than the sum of its parts.

I shared my thoughts on the book here and today I am going to share an interview I did with the author. Let's begin!

Tells us briefly about your publication journey. I know this was a long one in terms of your book, but so worth the wait. What was the process like, especially being able to work with an editor on the early stages of your book?

The journey began in 2006 so, yes, it was a long-ish one. Still, it began without a manuscript, so from the start Arthur and I were able to discuss what we both wanted the book to be. I had tremendous freedom - so much so that my first draft was actually far from what Arthur had in mind... even though we'd spoken about it in advance! Just goes to show you that there are many different ways to attack the same story. Still, with guidance, I found a stronger way in than my first attempt and that, ultimately, not only made a better book but was a direct outgrowth of working with an editor from the start.

Gregory is a poet, as your are. How did you get into his head space to write the poems from his pov?  

To me, getting in his head for the poetry was not really different than getting in his head for the rest of the story. Once I knew how he saw the world, the rest followed. And there, too, I had an advantage as one thing Arthur and I had discussed early on was that Gregory K.'s point of view was going to be the same one that already appeared in a lot of my poetry. So, it was a process of taking what I already knew and applying it to the book's unique situations.

As part of researching a novel authors will literally put themselves in their characters shoes. Did you, perhaps, eat a lot of pie? Research cafe's? Anything else?

I fear that if I ate as much pie and dessert as Gregory did in the book - even if I spread it out over 7 years - I'd be a highly unhealthy blob. Which isn't to say that I didn't spend time with desserts. I mean, truly, the sign of a good coffee house is good coffee, but the sign of a place I can write is a place with good desserts! I savored a few goodies... and actually did celebrate many landmarks, including the arrival of the ARCs and hardcover, with pie.

What is one of your memorable moments from a school visit, book signing or fan email?

I'll share two sorta-related moments. The first was receiving a piece of fan mail written as a series of Fibs. Now, it's a trip to get fan mail to begin with, but to have it come in the form of poetry that's at the heart of the book? Fantastic and gratifying! Then, at a recent event at the Brentwood School here in LA, a bunch of kids grabbed my "How to write a Fib" handout and - totally on their own - sat down in the middle of a busy gym floor with kids and adults swirling all around them and wrote poetry. That's my kind of people! And while it woulda been great to see them writing anything, it was even more fun for me to see them partaking in some Fibbery.

Can we expect to see more from Gregory, or his family, or friends? Along the lines of what we saw with Lisa Yee's books that began with Millicent Min, Girl Genius? Middle grade readers do love to revisit favourite worlds!

The characters in 14 Fibs were a lot of fun to spend time with, so I'd love to revisit their world. It's all about finding a strong enough story for those characters in their situation... and, truth be told, it's something I'm working on even as I answer your questions!

***

Thanks for this, Greg! You kind find out more about Greg on his blog, Gotta Book. And if you want to treat yourself to some of his poetry--all in one spot (a.k.a a collection)--you can! Just got my copy and am already happily reading. 

Packed with fun and funny poetry for children and their adults (and vice versa), The Late Bird has over 50 poems that will make you laugh, think, and cry (if they make you laugh so hard you drop your reader, that is). 

You'll get to read a Book Report on the Thesaurus, meet interesting friends and family members, and even get the answer to the question "if the early bird gets the worm, what does the late bird get?" (Goodreads)

That's it from me on this Marvelous Middle Grade Monday. Heading back to Shannon Messenger's so I can see what else is being shared!

Good luck on the giveaway! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Greetings and waving to all of you from the Canadian leg of Maureen McQuerry's blog tour for her middle grade fantasy Beyond the Door. EDIT-and TODAY is now Monday. Marvelous Middle Grade Monday to be exact so I am holding this post over for you to have an opportunity to read a bit about the cover art behind this Beyond the Door and the chance to win one of two books. Now...enough from me....read ON!

With his love of learning and the game of Scrabble, Timothy James feels like the only person who understands him is his older sister, Sarah, and he’s fairly certain nothing interesting will ever happen to him. But one night, while his parents and sister are away, the door opens, and mythical creatures appear in his own living room! Soon, a mystery of unparalleled proportions begins to unfold, revealing an age-old battle of Light against Dark, and Timothy must embark on a qu

est to prevent the Dark from controlling the future and changing the past. But he can’t complete the quest alone. Timothy has to team up with his sister and the school bully, Jessica, to face an ancient evil, and in the process, this unlikely trio discover they are each more than meets the eye.(Goodreads)

I am midway through this book and frankly just want to stay home and keep reading. And I love my job so am thinking that says something. Was pulled into the world right away because the MC was pulled into it right away. It works when a writer does that and does it well.  There is great detail and variety of points of view...something is a coming and it is not good.

Yesterday Maureen was at Charlotte's Library. She talked about the backstory and inspiration for her book. Today we have a guest post on cover art for the book with illustrator Victo Ngai. (note: orginally posted in tumblr)

Time out of Time 

Time out of time

the horned man rides

with the forest queen

the greenman Dies.

the Heavens bear witness

the great wolf Flies, and TImothy Hames stands alone.

I have been working on a new book series called Time out of Time by Maureen Doyle McQuerry. Book 1 Beyond the Door has just come out! Time out of Time is an advantage and imagination packed fantasy story which draw inspiration from Celtic mythologies. Our hero is a shy bookish boy named TImothy who is fairly certain nothing interesting will ever happen to him. However, everything changes on one dark spring night. A mystery knocks on his door and starts revealing his role in an ancient prophecy…

Choosing a moment from a book as cover is always a fun challenge. It has be a true representation of the story without spoiling the plot, while being visually stimulating. I decided to go with the Wild Hunt because:

a) There’s a giant golden flying wolf, who wouldn’t like that?

b) We introduce our main character - Timothy.

c) The chase set the stage of adventure and the storm set the mood of danger. (Deb note: yes, yes it does!)

d) It’s a perfect moment to show the parallel existence of Timothy’s ordinary world and the fantastical world “beyond the door”.

This art has been featured on the American Library Association Booklist cover, what a honor!

Big thanks to Maureen for this great story, Ad Chad Beckerman and Editor Howard Reeves for all the great input. I hope you would enjoy the book as much as I do! Don’t forget to decipher the secret code which comes with the book!

Thanks to Victo Ngai for allowing me to share the on doing the cover art for this book.

And a big BIG thanks to Maureen for offering a copy of BOTH of her books for giveaway.  Up for grabs is a hardcover of Beyond the Doors and a paperback of The Peculiars.

All you need to do is leave a comment by next Sunday June 22, midnight MST. One winner for each book will be picked from the comments using Random Org. Good luck everyone! (U.S./Canada)

Speaking of Marvelous Middle Grade Monday here is the link to head on back to find some more great middle grade reads!

Follow the Tour Thread

 June 9-Charlotte's Library -Introduction and Inspiration

June 11-The Book Cellar-What I’ve learned from Myth Part 1

June 12  Haunted Orchid -What I’ve Learned from Myth part 2

June 13 Smack Dab in the Middle -Interview & give away

Read Write Tell & My Library Notebook become one

READ WRITE TELL and My Library Notebook are finally (finally) ready to be combined. A final step then I am, good, good to go!

Middle Grade March and release day for ICE DOGS by Terry Lynn Johnson

Hello everyone, Middle Grade March 2014 is on the way and I must say I am getting all kinds of excited. Have been emailing back and forth with authors and bloggers, booking in guest posts, interviews and doing a whole lot more.We still have some slots to fill and also looking for anyone who might like to offer giveaways. You can fill out this form if you are interested or just drop me a line justdeb AT debamarshall DOT com. Whatever works for you.

One of the authors, Terry Lynn Johnson, I am interviewing has her book coming out today. And I have some mad cover love going on for this. Head on over to her site for more details and enter to win a copy.